It is 1957 and the likable, fedora-hatted, rogue archaeologist Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is embroiled in a vicious kidnapping designed to make him help retrieve a mysterious artifact from an abandoned US intelligence storage in the Nevada Desert.
The bad guys are, of course, Russian, since it is 1957 going on 2008 and US phobias are alive and well.
This bunch is lead by every masochist's dominatrix fantasy Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchet).
The kidnapping is investigated in the McCarthy style of "guilty until proven otherwise" and Jones, as a man with many imaginary reds under his bed, is sacked from his university post.
With nothing better to do, he is drawn into an improbable but engaging mission to rescue an old mate and fellow archeologist Professor Oxley (John Hurt) from the clutches of the shadowy custodians of the crystal skulls.
One of the skulls was removed from the mythical Akatar, previously known simply as El Dorado, a city built in pure gold by a disappeared conquistador Francisco de Orellana.
The returning of the skull is to be rewarded with omnipotent powers and, naturally, Jones's "altruistic" interest is not shared by the Russians, who are abetted by a treacherous Brit called Mac (Ray Winstone).
But, hey, relax. It's all about suspending belief and letting sheer escapism take you on this rollercoaster of a brilliant cinematic ride, even if it does occasionally bruise political sensibilities a bit.
Intelligent and genuinely comical self-mockery is undoubtedly the saving grace of this film, as are the astonishing special effects.
To reveal the finer points of the plot would be sacrilegious, so suffice it to say that the fiery Marion Ravenwood of The Raiders of the Lost Ark (Karen Allen) returns as Jones's long lost love.
By the way, in April 1996, the BBC, in association with the British Museum and Everyman Productions, performed tests on most of the best-known large crystal skulls to determine their age. An electron microscope was used.
The results knocked a few of the circulating myths. It was determined that the British Museum skull and the Smithsonian skull were fakes, carved using contemporary methods from the 1800s.
The most famous of all, the Mitchell-Hedges skull, is most likely fake too, given that the owner refused to submit it to this stringent test.
However, two of the skulls examined, the Texas and Rose Quartz crystal skulls, were apparently carved using a method dating back more than 5,000 years.
Scientists, though, have found no evidence of any unusual phenomena or supernatural powers.
When BBC broadcast the program, it drew the largest audience ever for the series.
So, no doubt, will this cunning Spielberg's addition to the Indiana Jones franchise.
